


Finding Our Way

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: My Something [2]
Category: Stitchers (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-04-10 19:19:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4404137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Kirsten and Cameron learn to navigate their new relationship and face increasing demands from their bosses, they realize that Kirsten isn't alone in the stitches anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Like my previous story in this series, this is now an alternate timeline for the show and no longer canon compliant. I kept how Kirsten got her temporal dysplasia, but the Kirsten in my head absolutely refused to allow Cameron injecting himself to be part of this universe. Honestly, I can't really blame her.

It still felt a little like a dream.

Of course, the things he’d been dreaming lately had turned out to be completely real, his brain’s attempt  to hold on to everything that had happened to him while he’d been unconscious. He’d been in a coma, sent there by a suspicious hit-and-run, and Kirsten had used sabotaged tech to do exactly the same thing that had given her temporal dysplasia years before. She'd stitched him, putting herself in an immense amount of danger, just so she could convince him to wake up again. They’d kissed, and feelings had been admitted on both sides.

He hadn’t quite dared believe it – not Kirsten risking her life, since that was unfortunately a really regular part of his week – but then Kirsten had confirmed it all. Then, miracle of miracles, he’d fallen asleep with her tucked up against his side in the hospital bed.

She was still there when Cameron woke up, a warm, solid weight that made him that much more wary about the person he could feel staring at him from the foot of his hospital bed. “So I take it this is the ominous visit portion of the evening,” he muttered, opening his eyes to darkness. He could just make out Maggie in the shadows, the lesser of any number of potential evils.

Maggie narrowed her eyes at him. “I wanted to check on you.”

“In the dark, with a heavy dose of unsettling staring. I’m really feeling the support.” He kept his voice quiet, not wanting to wake up Kirsten. “Seriously, why are you here?”

Maggie’s gaze flicked to Kirsten, then back to him. “She threatened the NSA for you.”

Cameron closed his eyes a moment, not able to stop his arm from tightening around her. See, this was why he should never be unconscious – she got herself into even _more_ trouble when he wasn’t there next to her. “Did you give her a reason to?”

Maggie’s jaw tightened briefly. “I was trying to warn her.”

A surge of protective anger hit, and it was Cameron’s turn to narrow his eyes.  He’d thought they wanted him out of the way so they could have free reign with his tech, but if this was all part of some larger move against Kirsten…. “Should _I_ be threatening the NSA?”

Maggie matched his glare. “ _Neither_ of you should be threatening the NSA if you don’t want to get yourselves killed.”

Next to him, he could feel Kirsten’s muscle’s tense like she wasn’t asleep anymore. She kept pretending, though, and Cameron wasn’t about to give her away. He needed to encourage any instinct she had not to throw herself in the middle of a dangerous situation.

Instead, he raised an eyebrow at Maggie. “You kind of forgot to mention the mortal danger when you were recruiting me for the project, by the way. It really should have been listed in the employee handbook somewhere.”

Maggie gave him a long, serious look. “The last thing I want is for either of you to be in mortal danger,” she said quietly.

Cameron couldn’t tell whether that was an apology, a lie, or another warning, so he filed it away to think about later. “Kirsten told me what Rogers did to my tech,” he said finally. “I won’t know for certain until I can see it for myself, but Linus and I should be able to fix it.”

Maggie raised an eyebrow. “’What Rogers did’?” she repeated, the disbelief clear in her voice.

Cameron had known as he was setting up the sabotage failsafe that she would suspect it was him. Admittedly, when he’d come up with the plan he hadn’t expected to still be alive to have to deal with the aftereffects, but he wasn’t about to complain. Besides, him still being here only emphasized his point – he wasn't about to leave Kirsten without backup. “That’s what Kirsten said.” He lifted his free hand in a “What can you do?” gesture.  “But if you brought in anyone else new, it might have been them. I won’t know until I take a look at it.”

Maggie didn’t respond, her gaze suggesting that she was mentally trying to drill holes through the back of his head. After several seconds, she huffed out a breath. “I’ll expect you back in the lab by Monday.”

Cameron saluted her with his free hand. “Aye aye, Captain.”

When the sound of her footsteps had disappeared, Kirsten’s head shifted against his shoulder. "I showed a considerable amount of restraint not getting involved in that conversation," she said matter-of-factly, sounding far more awake than she should have been. "I want points for that."

Cameron couldn't have stopped his lips from curving up even if he'd wanted to. "Sounds fair." He pressed a kiss against her hair, worry and love tangling up in his chest in a way that he'd gotten used to long before they'd ended up here. "But you also lose points for threatening the NSA without me. If we're going to piss off the federal government, I'd rather we did it together."

She pushed herself upright enough to look down at him, brow furrowed. "That doesn't sound like you yelling at me."

He sighed, brushing his thumb against the curve of her cheek.  "Does it ever work?"

Her brow lowered. "That doesn't mean I want you to stop."

The words, and the seriousness in her expression, sparked a bright, warm glow in his chest. "You _do_ like my fussing," he murmured, smiling helplessly.

Kirsten's expression softened at that. "No comment." She pressed a kiss against his cheek, smoothing his hair back from his forehead, and Cameron's throat tightened at the sheer care packed into the simple gestures. "I know you don't like it when I do things like that, but they've made it clear that I'm more important to them than you are. I needed to make it clear to them how important you are to _me_."

Cameron's eyes were stinging as he looked up at the girl he was absolutely certain he would follow anywhere, no matter what highly dangerous place she was insisting on breaking into at the moment. "You know, Ron Stoppable makes a hell of a lot more sense to me now than he did when I was a kid," he murmured.

Kirsten's brow furrowed again. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll show you later." He pulled her down for another kiss, his fingers infinitely gentle as they curved around the back of her neck. When they broke apart, though, his expression was deathly serious. "Please be careful. Being safe doesn't mean a damn thing to me if it makes it so you're the one in danger."

"I don't think either of us are safe," Kirsten said softly. "But at least we'll be in danger together."

That shouldn't have been nearly as much of a comfort as it was. He nodded, tightening his arm around her as she tucked her head back against his shoulder. "I can live with that."


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure your employer wouldn't be willing to disclose any details about the clinical trial they used on you?" Dr. Radover leaned forward as he handed Cameron his release paperwork, voice cajoling. "Even just contact information. We might have other patients who would meet their requirements."

Cameron winced, focusing on filling out the form to hide his surge of guilt. "It's ... really early. There are a lot of dangers."

That, unfortunately, didn't dissuade the man. "There are some families who might be willing to take the risk. I know you don't have the authority to make any decisions yourself, but—"

"Everyone else we've used the procedure on is dead," Kirsten cut in, blunt enough to seem harsh to someone who didn't know her. Only Cameron could feel the way her fingers had tensed against his back the moment he'd winced. She didn't see herself that way, but she was fiercely protective. "Technically, Cameron shouldn't have even been allowed to participate. He was an aberration in the system, and it's highly unlikely we'll ever be able to reproduce the circumstances."

All 100 percent true, though not in the context Dr. Radover was thinking. The other man looked back and forth between the two of them, then narrowed his eyes at Kirsten. "Are you with the clinical trial?" he asked suddenly, voice suspicious. "We let you stay because we assumed you were his girlfriend, but if you were just here to monitor your results I'm going to file a complaint with—"

"Excuse me?" Cameron snapped, his own anger building. Kirsten had a different way of communicating things, yes, but it was obvious to anyone who paid a damn bit of attention that she had more heart than a lot of people. To _dismiss_ that, simply because she didn't sugarcoat things.... "She's barely left my side, she slept in the _hospital_ bed with me, and now you're suddenly assuming it's a front because she's spouting technical talk you don't particularly want to hear?" He slapped the clipboard with the paperwork against the counter, gritting his teeth to keep from shouting as he glared at the doctor. "She's the only reason I'm able to stand here and yell at you right now for being _such_ a—"

"Cameron." Kirsten's voice, cautious in a way he wasn't used to hearing it. She was rubbing small circles into his back, the kind of soothing gesture you used on a little kid.

He took a deep breath, turning away from the doctor and back to the forms. "Now go away while I finish my paperwork." The doctor left in a huff, and Cameron felt a few speculative looks from the nurses as he bent back down to his paperwork. The anger, though, made it hard to focus. Of all the....

A moment later, Kirsten slid it out from underneath him and started filling out the rest of it. "If you give yourself a heart attack right now, I'm going to be incredibly annoyed," she said calmly, not looking at him.

Cameron sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "You're right. I'm sorry." He forced himself through a few steadying breaths. "I should have let you be the one to eviscerate him." He smiled a little, looking over at her. "After all, you were already riding to my rescue."

Kirsten's expression was still tense, her eyes fixed on the paper. "It'll happen again, you know." Her voice was too quiet, the pain in it enough to slice right through him. "I've had people assume I was autistic, though mostly they go straight to 'heartless bitch.' Someone will end up asking you why  you're dating a robot."

"And I'll tell whoever it is that they're an idiot, too." Cameron's fingers tightened against the counter as he fought off the urge to go punch the doctor in the face. Instead, he shifted close enough so that their arms pressed together. "I knew you were protecting me, Ace. Dr. Radover was just pissed to be cut off from a potential resource."

"A normal girlfriend wouldn't have phrased it like I did." She set down the pen, taking her own deep breath before looking over at him. "You know I'm not good at saying the right thing, especially when it comes to emotions. I probably never will be." She was clearly bracing herself for something. "I don't know if you're really prepared for that."

"Sunshine...." Utterly confused, but hating how much she was hurting, he wrapped an arm around her. "Where is this coming from?"

Her voice was clipped, almost brittle. "My only significant long-term relationship was secretly working for my father, which meant I have no actual experience in keeping a romantic partner happy. You're fine now, because I just made a grand gesture, but we both have self-esteem issues that could easily cause you to doubt how I feel about you. I'll try, but I don't know if I'll get any better at putting it into words." She swallowed, leaning the side of her head against his. "The temporal dysplasia means I'm not very good at anticipating people emotionally. If you need something from me, I won't see it until it's too late."

Cameron rubbed a hand up and down her arm. "If I need something from you, I'll tell you."

"Unless you feel like you don't deserve it," she said tiredly.

Damn it, the fact that she's been in his head was proving to be slightly inconvenient at the moment. "Okay." He exhaled, forcing his brain to try and problem solve. "I don't know why you think I'll be any better at this than you are."

Her expression relaxed just a little at that, lips flickering upward. "That probably shouldn't have been comforting."

The pressure in his chest eased a bit. "Hey, whatever works." As the words left his mouth, an idea hit. "Touch me." She pulled back at that, raising an eyebrow at him, and he clarified. "Whenever you have any kind of warm, happy, hopefully romantic feelings you want to communicate to me, just touch me. Hand on my back, shoulder, squeeze my arm, anything. It won't matter if you never find the right words, because I'll know what you mean."

She hesitated. "And that will be enough?"

"Now that I know what it means, absolutely." His voice was gentle as he pressed a kiss against her cheek. "I get plenty from you, Kirsten. I always have."

She sighed, leaning against him. "I don't understand how."

He smiled. "So that's at least one area I'm smarter than you in."

After a beat, her lips curved upward. "The only area," she murmured, returning her attention to the form.

His smile widened. "Hey, I'm just happy we found one." 


	3. Chapter 3

Cameron had to dart to grab her bag out of the trunk a little more quickly than dignity strictly allowed, and Kirsten raised an eyebrow as he slung it over his shoulder. "I think just getting out of the hospital trumps being a gentleman," she said dryly.

He grinned at her as they headed inside. "I can't exactly claim invalid privileges now and try to seduce you the moment we get upstairs."

"Try?" Her lips curved upward, the challenge in them shooting straight to his gut. Then she reached out and linked their fingers together, making his chest squeeze tight. "You're not sure you'll be successful?"

"I haven't had nearly enough practice with you to be sure." He squeezed her hand as they headed up the stairs. "Of course, we could just have you seduce me. That way, we could be certain it would work."

She shifted closer to him as they walked, enough that their shoulders brushed together. "I haven't had any more practice with you than you have with me."

He stroked his thumb along the side of her finger, expression going soft. "All you have to do is smile at me and I'm in trouble."

"Really?" The word had a world of promise in it, and there was an intent look in Kirsten's eyes as she gently backed him up against a hallway wall. She leaned in close, awareness of her proximity shooting through his body like an electrical surge. "I think I can do better than that."

The kiss was devouring, a demand and a promise all in the same moment. His brain largely shut down, deciding it clearly wasn't needed, and focused only on cataloguing the rush of sensation that kept pouring in. Kirsten pressed up against him, the long line of her body fitting against his like they'd been made for each other, hands roaming as if trying to memories every inch of the other.

Only when they broke apart for air did his brain send him a memo about where they were. "Should we take this inside?" he managed, jerking his head toward his apartment before stealing another kiss.

She tugged him forward, letting go only far enough that they could both walk. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

000

Waking up next to Kirsten had been wonderful in the hospital, but it was nothing compared to waking up wrapped around each other in a real bed. He just laid there for a moment in the quiet, listening to the sound of her breathing, and wondered how in the hell he'd ever gotten this lucky.

Soon, though, he felt her shift against him. "Remind me that we need to set the alarm tomorrow," she murmured, tightening her arms around him. "You make it hard to get out of bed."

Never in his life had he ever felt more complimented. "Well, Stretch," he murmured, leaning in for another kiss. "Allow me to make things a little more—"

They both froze at the sudden pounding on his front door. It was only a few second later before the person pounded again, even louder this time.

"Maybe they have the wrong apartment," Cameron whispered, knowing even as he said it how unlikely it was.

She shook her head. "It's either Camille or the federal government."

Cameron sighed, closing his eyes. "Honestly, at the moment? I don't know which is worse."

Kirsten gave him a quick kiss, moving to get out of bed. "Whichever one it is, they're not going to give up."

Dragging on an assortment of Cameron's sleepwear collection – he'd never loved his Batman boxers as much as he did when she was wearing them – Kirsten started coffee while Cameron answered the door. It turned out to be Camille – who he would later be willing to admit was better than the government – a big pink box in one hand and Linus trailing behind her.

"These are 'Congratulations on the sex' churros," she announced, pushing the box into his arms before striding inside.  She'd written it on the top of the box in black marker, and Cameron supposed he should be grateful that no icing had been involved. "Now – do you want the teasing first, or the 'our bosses are potentially insane' update?"

Cameron shot Linus a betrayed look, trying hard not to give in to the churro smell wafting from inside the box. Linus just shrugged and patted his shoulder. "Sorry, brother. But you've followed along with way too many of Kirsten's crazy plans to really hold this one against me."

He sighed, pulling a churro out of the box and taking a bite. "You have a point."

Over by the counter, Kirsten was trying hard to pretend she wasn't fighting off a smile at whatever Camille had just said. "Do you _really_ have nothing better to do with your Sunday morning?"

"Technically, yes," Camille admitted, moving to sit on the edge of the counter. "But the fact that you and your—"

"Get off the counter," Cameron called from across the room.

Camille obliged with a huff. "—extremely boring Romeo have finally stopped pining for one another deserves some kind of celebration." She smirked at Kirsten. "Also, I get to find out if there's any chance of you moving in here and leaving me the house out of the goodness of your heart. Or of Cameron moving into the house and letting me sublet this place for a miraculously discounted price."

Kirsten glanced over at Cameron. "We haven't talked about where we'll end up yet."

Which was definitely not a no to the idea of moving in together. Cameron couldn't have stopped his grin even if he'd wanted to.

Linus leaned closer. "Look in the mirror, then tell me I didn't look as goofy after I had sex with Camille the first time," he said under his breath.

"I couldn't tell," Cameron still couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "You always look goofy."

 "Okay, as much as I hate to say it, insane overlords time," Camille announced, suddenly all business as she held her hands up in the air. "We thought it would be better if we warned you in advance – apparently, the powers that be want to try stitching another person in a coma once you've fixed the tech."

"No." The denial that shot through Cameron was immediate, plenty of anger to back it up. He couldn't say anything about her father's early attempt – that was Kirsten's secret, and clearly one she hadn't shared yet. But that just made it even more his responsibility to protect her from having to do it again. "Not a chance. Stitching me was dangerous enough – I'm not going to let them put Kirsten into some stranger who could be fighting her at every turn."

"It was dangerous, but I figured out how to make it work." Kirsten turned her back to the counter, expression grim. "And this might give us an idea of what their endgame is with the program."

"Only by putting you right in the middle of it." Cameron set down the box of churros, eyes fixed on Kirsten. "You're worth a hell of a lot more to me than saving the world, Stretch."

Her expression gentled. "And I'm not going to let you make yourself more of a target trying to keep me safe," she said softly, moving close enough to lay a hand over his heart. "What they want might end up being impossible. And if it's not, there's a chance we can fake the stitch so it seems that way.  I'm not going to let them make me do anything I don't want to."

Cameron gave her a serious look. "With you, Sparky, that's not really that comforting."

Linus nodded. "It could work, though. Most of the information about what's happening in the stitch comes through you, Cameron or me."

"And we already know that Kirsten's good at spinning a convincing lie to nut jobs," Camille added. "I feel the rest of us can probably manage  to hit her level if we need to."

Kirsten, though, kept her gaze locked firmly on Cameron. "Trust me. We can do this."

Cameron sighed, knowing he'd lost the moment she'd said the word "trust." "I am going to run _so_ many tests," he warned her, voice rougher than he'd wanted it to be. "There will be more fussing than you have ever seen, and you will sit there and take every last second of it."

She kissed his cheek. "I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

There was a very touching round of cheers and applause when Cameron went into work the next morning. Camille and Linus had brought in a huge "Glad you're conscious" cake, Ayo hugged him, and Tim made a facial expression that could possibly be interpreted as a smile if you were feeling optimistic. Cameron had just gotten irrefutable proof his co-workers were actually fond of him, and the love of his life had that warm, soft look in her eyes that he now knew meant she found him adorable. So yeah, he was feeling optimistic.

He leaned close to Kirsten. "Should someone be calling Fisher? You know how annoyed he gets when he misses cake."

"Already took care of it." That, surprisingly, was Maggie, suddenly standing in the doorway. She smiled at him, and Cameron was surprised to note that it seemed 100 percent genuine. "You look good."

Cameron hesitated, remembering the moment in the hospital room where she said she didn't want to see either of them hurt. Not sure what to say, he smirked and struck a pose. "It's the shirt, isn't it?"

Kirsten shook her head, looking amused. "It's not the shirt."

Linus lifted his head. "I told you to ease up on the plaid, buddy."

Cameron pointed a finger at him. "Listen, plaid has a long, rich history that you are just to plebian to appreciate."

He was surprised by an actual chuckle from Maggie's direction, and he turned around just in time to catch the edges of her smile before it faded into a much more serious expression. "I know this isn't the best time, but I need to speak to you."

Before Cameron could open his mouth, Kirsten pressed close against his side. "Not without me."

"And us." Linus added, as she and Camille hurried over to flank them.

Maggie sighed. "You told them."

Camille gave her an "are you kidding me?" look. "Of course  I did. We're a team."

Maggie closed her eyes for a moment, then stepped back and gestured to her office. "Fine. All of you then."

They followed her into the conference room, Camille bringing her slice of cake with her, and once they were all inside Maggie shut the door behind them. She stayed standing as they all took their seats, the expression on her face going from solemn to almost grim. "Cameron, I need a time frame on how long it will take you to fix the stitching equipment."

He and Linus had worked how long they could pad it the day before, in anticipation of this very question. But there was something about her voice that made him wonder. "How long do you want us to take?" he asked quietly. He could see Camille and Linus shooting him curious looks,  but Kirsten just shifted her chair close enough to lace her fingers with his. She trusted him, just like he trusted her.

Maggie gave Cameron an intense look, then the air seemed to let out of her. "We can't hold them off forever," she said finally, suddenly looking almost exhausted as she dropped into a chair. "Are there any tests we can run that will give us some idea of the potential dangers for Kristen?"

Cameron looked at Kirsten, who shook her head just a fraction. Clearly, they still weren't going to bring up her father's experiment yet. "Technically, Kirsten's trip into my head could be seen as a successful dry run," he said carefully, testing the waters.

Maggie gave them both a skeptical look. "As unwilling as I am to argue 'true love' with the director, I think all of us here know that those were extremely specific circumstances." She leaned forward. "There are times we have to fight to keep her stabilized in corpses that no longer have the ability to think independently.  In a living brain, even unconscious, we're going to have to fight to keep her in there at all."

"That's not the worst case scenario." He felt Kirsten's hand tense briefly in his before relaxing again, and he squeezed it tight. "If the other person's brain overwhelms Kirsten's, it might not simply kick her out. There could be permanent damage."

"Management seems really interested in keeping Kirsten alive," Camille chimed in. "Are they really going to be willing to risk her like that?"

Kirsten was the one who responded, reading the answer in Maggie's face. "If it gets them what they want."

Maggie nodded. "And before you ask, I don't know what it is. My clearance isn't good enough." She settled back in her seat. "Take as much time as you need to make sure everything's up and running, but don't pad it out. I'll add a week before I report that it's fixed, and we'll use that time to come up with as many safety precautions as we can." She swept her eyes around the table. "If all of you could refrain from doing anything dangerously stupid during that time frame, I would appreciate it."

Kirsten shrugged. "We'll try."

As they all headed back to the cake, Cameron felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out, shielding the screen from the cameras, and saw a text from Linus. _What was that?!?! :O_

He typed back. _Maybe she's not evil?_

The response came a second later. _C here – stole bae's phone. I still vote no on the trusting game._

He showed the screen to Kirsten, who took it from him. _There are levels of trust._

Cameron nodded, taking the phone back. _She likes us breathing, which is a plus._

"No running off doing your Scooby Gang thing." At the sudden sound of Fisher's voice, Cameron shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned around to face the detective. He was eating a slice of cake, an all-too-knowing expression on his face. "You just got out of the hospital, and I don't want to have to save you from getting into another one before I've finished my cake."

"Oh, he's not doing anything that's putting him back in the hospital," Kirsten said firmly, taking his hand in hers again. "Or he'll be answering to _me_."

Fisher raised his eyebrows at that, glancing down at their hands before looking back up at Kirsten's face. "You know, the best way to do that is to keep _yourself_ out of life-threatening danger. Just a thought." Then he gave Cameron a wry smile. "You might want to invest in a good pair of handcuffs. It will at least slow her down a little."

Kirsten shot the detective an annoyed look as Camille burst out laughing from across the room. Cameron just grinned, making Kirsten give him the same annoyed look she'd given Fisher. "Actually, that's not a bad idea."


	5. Chapter 5

Cameron and Linus fixed the equipment as slowly as they could without it being noticeable. Still, it didn't take nearly long enough.

000

"Poor guy." Linus looked over at their first test subject. With Kirsten and Ayo's help, Cameron had come up with a rough sequence of trial runs that would let them ease Kirsten into management's request as safely as possible.

The "as possible" was what haunted him.

Camille patted him on the shoulder as she went to stand next to Cameron. He'd been training her in his job ever since he'd gotten back to the lab, and she now served as his backup and unspoken second-in-command. "He's not missing much. He's  got the quietest brain we could find - the only reason he's still on the machines is because his asshole children won't pull the plug until they get the will overturned."

"Which might also mean I've stacked this too far the other way and his brain won't let you stitch him at all." Cameron check and re-checked all the readings, forcing himself to breathe through the knot that seemed permanently lodged in his chest. "Don't force this, guys. If it's not working, we stop and try again with a new coma patient tomorrow. "

"Cameron." Kirsten, already in the tank, raised herself into a sitting position. Her expression, like her voice, was gentle but firm. "Get over here. Now."

He obeyed, as powerless against her as always. "We've got time, Ace, and it's going to get dangerous later no matter what I do so I sure as hell don't want you risking yourself here. And if there is anything even slightly hinky going on I need to promise me—"

"That I'll bounce right away," she finished for him, reaching for him over the edge of the tank. She pulled him close, lips against his hair and one hand cradling the back of his head. "I promise."

He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that her touch was saying even more than her words were. "Come back to me, Stretch."

"I have to." She pulled away at that, bending down for a quick kiss before letting him go completely. "We've only made it through season 1 of 'Kim Possible.'"

Recognizing what she was trying to do for him, he let himself be distracted for a few precious seconds. "We'd get through the episodes faster if you didn't stop to complain about her mission outfit all the time."

She gave him a bright grin before laying back down. "While I can forgive a certain amount because she was a teenager and constrained by the fashion trends of the early 2000s, fighting crime in a mid-drift-bearing top simply isn't practical."

Linus gave a happy sigh. "I used to have the biggest crush on Shego." He stopped, a thought occurring to him, then turned to Camille. "She reminds me a lot of you, actually. Have you seen the show?"

Camille smiled at him. "Enough to know that I consider that a compliment."

Maggie, watching from the railing, sighed. "As fascinating as this is, can we get back to work?"

The entry protocols went off without a hitch, Kirsten's vital signs steady and sure the whole time, but it did nothing to ease Cameron's worry. In the video of her father's attempted stitch, the problems hadn't started until she was already inside. "How're we doing, Sparky?"

"I don't see much of anything," Kirsten reported, sounding faintly annoyed. "There's either darkness or these mists that I presume are faded memories. I can make out some partial images, but they're more like movie images than moments I'm re-experiencing with them."

Cameron studied the patient's brain map, the faint, flickering lights that showed the memory pathways that were still active. "Want me to try some navigating? I don't want to do anything too recent, in case it tips you into the stroke that put him here, but I can see if there's anything viable further back."

"Do it," Kirsten said. "If nothing else, it'll be useful information."

Gently, Cameron guided her back to a set of memories that should have been filed about six months before the stroke. They were tied to some of the brightest activity on the map, with strong sense associations, and there was evidence of endorphin discharge that suggested it had been a positive experience for him. "If I'm leading you into a sex scene I'm sorry."

"I've seen worse." There was amusement in her voice, but it soon slid back into professionalism. "I think you made the right choice. I'm feeling a faint pull toward wherever we're going."

He stopped. "Anything to be worried about?"

"She's fine," Ayo interjected. "Her vitals are still strong."

"It's not a problem," Kirsten added. "It's really no stronger than the feeling of someone tugging on your hand. I just think that Mr. Nedermeyer likes where we're going."

Cameron landed her in the right memory cluster, then let a hand free to rub his nose against a sudden rush of scent. It took him a second to identify it – pine, somewhere in the vicinity of a really high-class air freshener – and he glanced over at Camille. "Do you have on pine-scented lotion or something?" he murmured, scratching at the faint prickling sensation at the back of his neck. Maybe he was allergic to whatever it was.

She gave him a weird look. "Not unless you think 'Sugar Cookie' smells like pine."

He took another sniff – no, definitely pine – then realized he hadn't heard from Kirsten in a second. "Hey, Stretch." The knot tightened, distracting him from everything else. "Talk to me."

"Sorry. It's nice here." Kirsten's voice sounded surprisingly relaxed, easing some of the tension inside him. "It's a park, I think. He goes here a lot, and that's part of why the memory is so strong. He likes to lie down on the grass."

Linus nodded sagely. "Don't we all."

"Mr. Nedermeyer definitely does, often enough that I'm actually getting some tactile memory of the grass blades." She paused. "Though this isn't exactly what grass feels like. It's almost like he's recreated it in his head, and he's here instead of the hospital bed. The scent, too. I can see pine trees, but it smells almost more like a pine-tree air freshener."

Cameron froze. He wanted to completely reject the idea – even with everything they could do, it simply wasn't scientifically possible – but the memory of their first stitch together suddenly unfolded in his head. Specifically, the aftermath, when she'd slapped him and then grabbed her own cheek as if it hurt....

"Stretch?" The word came out a little strangled.

He could practically feel Kirsten snap to attention. "Cam? What is it?" The _Are you okay?_ was unspoken, but very much there, and Camille's eyes snapped to his as well.

Cameron cleared his throat. "Nothing. Just ... could you run your hand over the memory grass for me?"

Now everyone else was giving him curious looks, but when the faint prickling sensation moved across the palm of his left hand a moment later the looks were the least of his worries. He scrubbed a hand across the affected skin, as if he could banish the sensation, and an instant later he saw Camille's eyes go wide.

"Cam?" Kirsten's voice, worried and urgent. "If I'm supposed to tell you when something's wrong, then you need to do the same thing for me. _Tell me_."

Cameron looked up to see Maggie watching him with a questioning expression, then he turned back to the tank. "I'm fine, I promise." Fighting the urge to scrub at his hands again – the prickle was gone at the back of his neck, which must mean she sat up – he took a deep breath. "But you might want to bounce. We ... have some things to talk about."


	6. Chapter 6

Once the five of them had retreated to the relative safety of Maggie's office, Cameron explained the situation as simply as he could. Once he was done, the room was so quiet it practically echoed. He could only imagine the looks on everyone else's faces, because all of his attention was on Kirsten. She was staring at him wide-eyed, the look on her face the same one that he'd finally figured out meant she was having too many emotions and didn't know how to process them.

Nothing he wanted to say to her could be said here, so he held out a hand. She grabbed for it immediately, fingers squeezing his tightly enough that it was suddenly slightly easier for Cameron to breathe.

Maggie, unsurprisingly, was the first one to find her voice. "You were stressed. Are you sure—"

Camille jumped to his defense. "It happened. Before she started describing the memory she was in, Cameron asked me if I was wearing pine-scented lotion." She held her wrist out. "Sugar cookie doesn't smell anything like pine."

"Dude," Linus breathed. "How is this even _possible_?"

Cameron shrugged. "It isn't. Without us both being plugged in, there is absolutely no scientifically known way for me to even be getting echoes of what Kirsten  experiencing." He didn't say anything about the experimenting Kirsten's dad had done, or the slap echo Kirsten experienced hours after her first stitch. Both facts made it clear that _Kirsten_ was the anomaly, not the fact that she'd stitched a living person, and that was the last thing he wanted their creepy bosses to realize.

Maggie sighed. "Seeing as how we work for a program that would be science fiction anywhere outside these walls, I'm not about to start discounting possibilities that aren't scientifically known. What we need to focus on now is what it means and what we need to do about it."

"I need to stitch a dead person again, so we can see if it happens all the time or just when I'm in someone who's still alive." Kirsten said suddenly. "And Ayo needs to monitor his vitals—"

"That's not important." Cameron shook his head, cutting her off. "All her attention should be on Kirsten."

"If you're in there with me," Kirsten argued, her gaze as intense as her voice as she met Cameron's eyes. "You're in danger, too. I am _not_ leaving you unprotected."

"Okay, you're both ridiculously in love," Camille cut in. "We get the picture. How about we compromise by making sure you're _both_ safe and healthy in some fashion that _doesn't_ let our creepy bosses know what happened?"

"We can put some wireless sensors under Cameron's clothes," Linus offered. "Heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, the basics."

"I want to start training Camille as pilot backup, too," Cameron added. "If Kirsten gets into something deep enough that I get sucked in with her, I need someone with a clear enough head to make sure she gets out of there."'

Linus looked hurt. "What about me?"

"There's no one else we'd trust at your station," Kirsten cut in, making Linus's expression ease and neatly solving the problem."

Maggie turned to Camille. "You up for this?"

Camille nodded. "Absolutely. Anything I can do to help."

Maggie looked at them all, then nodded. "Okay, we have a plan. I'll get you a corpse and Ayo the medical files she can use to start looking for our next coma patient." Then her expression grew even more serious than usual. "None of this goes beyond the five of us. Even Ayo will be looped in only so far as it directly applies to her involvement." Something that looked suspiciously like worry crossed her face. "I will do everything I can to protect the four of you, but I need you to help me do that. Don't make yourselves into more interesting targets than you already are."

Everyone nodded solemnly.

000

Maggie let them go home early, and by silent agreement they all headed straight for Kirsten and Camille's house. Linus shut the door behind them, and Kirsten gestured for everyone to be silent while she did one more bug sweep. As soon as she clicked the device off, she turned to Cameron. "It's the cheek slap, isn't it?" Her expression shifted into self-recrimination mode. "That was the first sign. Even if I ignored it at the time, I should have started researching it once we knew about my father experimenting on me...."

"Hey," Cameron interrupted, moving close enough to lay his hands on her arms. "I was there for the slap, too, and if there's anyone to blame for missing the possible implications it's the neurologist. And as far as I'm concerned, this is the first _good_ thing that's happened because of—"

"Guys!'

At the sound of Camille and Linus shouting in unison, they turned to see their friends staring at them in a mixture of confusion and horror. "Excuse me?" Camille started. "Your dad _experimented_ on you?"

"Which you apparently told Cam about, but not us," Linus added. "And what does a slap have to do with the fact that you two now have superpowers?"

Camille folded her arms across her chest, looking stern. "Start at the beginning, leave out nothing, and maybe I'll let you live."

Linus echoed the gesture. "And maybe _we'll_ let you live."

Kirsten and Cameron looked at each other, then she took a deep breath. "I need a hug first." Cameron immediately obliged, holding on tightly enough that he was probably cutting off her air supply, but she didn't complain. After a moment she pulled back, made sure she had a tight grip on Cameron's hand, then told them everything she and Cameron knew.

"I don't think he anticipated anything like this happening, though," she finished, looking over at Cameron again. "In both cases, there was enough time after the actual stitch that it's not just bleed over from going under. It's something my brain is deliberately doing."

"The residual emotions suggest that there's an empathic element to the stitching process to start with," Cameron added, trying to deconstruct everything he knew about the program. "If it was designed for Kirsten, it's possible that her neurons were tuned to empathy as well." A thought hit. "That might be part of why stitching your mother hit you like it did. You were already attuned, and it overloaded you."

Kirsten shook her head. "That wouldn't explain the temporal dysplasia, or why it hasn't happened before."

Cameron shrugged. "So it only explains a part of it. As to why it never happened before, you'd never stitched before. Both after your first stitch, and during your first stitch into a living person—"

"—that wasn't you—"

"—that wasn't me, you needed extra stability. Your neurons are already elastic enough to accept the echo of another person – maybe they're primed to ground themselves the same way."

Kirsten let out a breath. "And found you."

He smiled. "And found me." He squeezed her hand again. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, Stretch. Especially since there's a chance I can use this to give you even more backup."

Her lips curved upward a little. "You know I'm going to start worrying about you now, right?"

" _You're_ going to start worrying?" That was Camille, clearly barely restraining herself from screaming. "I thought our lives were weird an hour ago, but now I find out that you're apparently a psychic now, your father is a certifiable mad scientist, and I need to make a mental appointment to find the man and kick his ass. Oh and _you_." She jabbed a finger at Cameron. "You're now going to get a bunch of bleedover from her stitches, which means that there are now _two_ people I care about who are constantly at risk for getting brain dead."

Linus's eyes slowly widened. "You _knew_." He turned to Kirsten. "You knew that stitching into a living person could leave you with permanent brain damage, and you didn't _tell_ us."

"It was Cameron." She lifted her free hand helplessly. "If I told you, you might have tried to stop me."

Camille and Linus looked at each other with matching expressions of "I am three seconds away from murdering them," doing a few deep breaths to keep from actually exploding. Then they turned back to Cameron and Kirsten. "Rule 1," Camille said. "No more keeping things from us."

"Rule 2," Linus added. "If we feel like adding an extra safety precaution, not a word from either of you two."

"Rule 3," Camille added. "No more keeping things from us!"

They nodded. "We can do that," Cameron said.

"But we're not ready to tell Maggie yet," Kirsten added. "Even though it looks like she's on our side...."

"Agreed about a thousand percent," Camille shook her head. "This, I'm not trusting to anyone but the four of us."

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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